


The Perfect Place to Start

by emothy



Category: Kamen Rider Gaim
Genre: Gen, brothers who can and should and will take over the world together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 02:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emothy/pseuds/emothy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kureshima Takatora, Kureshima Mitsuzane. Set at the end of ep 17. </p><p>  <i>"I defied your orders," Micchi says immediately, no beating around the bush. "But I believe it will be in our best interests in the long run and I'd like to explain my reasons to you if you'll let me."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Perfect Place to Start

**Author's Note:**

> (Because, dear god, please tell me Takatora didn't just hand off his brother to Ryoma because he's THAT STUPID that he thought it was a _genuinely_ good idea. _HE IS NOT THAT STUPID_. Tell me this was all part of a plan between Micchi and Takatora to use and dispose of Ryoma eventually, because that's what I'm telling myself to get me through this difficult time of exceptionally dumb OOC!niisan.)

-

Micchi presses the intercom button on the wall of Takatora's office and listens to the buzzer sounding inside the room. It's the only way to contact Takatora when he's in his office, since according to niisan himself all of his former receptionists have been, "useless, constantly distracted whenever I see them, and seemingly incapable of getting even the most basic of tasks done!".

Micchi doesn't doubt it; he's seen the motivational video they play at Yggdrasill every morning that basically amounts to nothing more than a, "remember who we're doing this for," voiceover as Takatora's face is shown larger than life on the screen. He has seen people _swoon_ over his niisan as he walks down halls glaring angrily. Takatora has no idea how strikingly handsome he is, apart from the resulting inconvenience he has to endure when people fawn over him all the time and are unusually clumsy around him because they're so startled by his perfect face. 

"Niisan, I've come to report to you," Micchi says through the intercom, "is now a good time?" 

The door release sounds and Micchi walks into the room. Niisan's office is almost entirely empty but for his desk and chair, and a couple of potted plants. He doesn't even have a second chair opposite his desk to allow anyone to sit down in front of him. Takatora either doesn't expect conversations in his office to last long, or else he just doesn't wish to make the person opposite him at all comfortable whilst they're talking with him. Micchi can admit that right now he doesn't deserve a seat; he has to tell his brother that he failed his mission to recover Kouta-san's Sengoku Driver. 

_Is it safe to talk?_ , he mouths at Takatora. Micchi has already had more than enough experience of Sengoku Ryoma's little 'dropping in on the conversation via audio or video link' games to last a lifetime. Takatora holds up a hand, switches off his cellphone with the other and then unceremoniously yanks the power cord from his laptop. 

"Those are the only electronic devices in this room," Takatora replies. "There are no cameras, by agreement."

"You trust that?" Micchi can't help but ask. Takatora nods.

Niisan seems to be a little attached to Sengoku Ryoma, as much as he also seems to despise the man. If they're to be rid of him for real - eventually - Micchi will obviously have to do it himself to spare his niisan the conflicting emotional issues. 

"Report."

"I defied your orders," Micchi says immediately, no beating around the bush. "But I believe it will be in our best interests in the long run and I'd like to explain my reasons to you if you'll let me."

"Explain yourself, Mitsuzane," Takatora says, leveling him a sharp look and clasping his hands together in his lap. Micchi turns on his heel and paces as he begins to list off his thoughts. 

"Minato-san explained the hierarchy at Yggdrasill to me today, which confirmed what I'd already suspected," he says. "You're the Chief, and Sengoku Ryoma-san ranks below you. But without him there would be no drivers. Nobody else could do the work he does; nobody understands it, or is capable of replicating it. Therefore, even though he defies you at every turn for his own ends, you can't fire or demote him."

"What's your point?"

"Sengoku Ryoma-san didn't want Kouta-san's driver taken from him," Micchi says, turning back to face Takatora. "Minato-san was there to aid me, but she did not support Oren in the attempt to take Kouta-san's driver from him. That's when I knew. She follows your orders only up until they conflict with her loyalty to Sengoku Ryoma-san. You already know this, I take it?"

"Yes," Takatora replies flatly. He does not like to be reminded of the fact that none of his staff ever do as they're asked. And if they do it's only because it coincides with their own needs and plans, not because they wish to help him. Micchi finds it insulting and deeply distressing. He wants to help his niisan. 

"Niisan, I don't want you to think I'm the same way," Micchi says gravely. He walks around the desk to stand in front of Takatora. "My loyalty is to you. I want us to do this together. Sengoku Ryoma-san is a problem, but I think by befriending him I can get all of the information we could ever need out of him, and then you and I can do what we're meant to do, as sons of the Kureshima family. As brothers. I had to defy you this time in order to set a foundation of trust with Sengoku Ryoma-san."

"How do you expect to get away with it?" Takatora asks. "Ryoma isn't stupid."

"Neither am I," Micchi replies quickly. It isn't quite rude, the way his words come out, but they are a little sharp. He doesn't appreciate the implication that he can't hold his own against Sengoku Ryoma; niisan needs to remember that Micchi is smart, and capable, and has been fighting for himself for quite some time now. "You have to pretend I came telling tales on Sengoku Ryoma-san. I reported to you that he gave me a direct order not to retrieve the belt after all, and I felt unable to defy him when he put me on the spot like that. Perhaps originally I simply came and told you I'd failed, and wasn't suitable Yggdrasill material, but you didn't believe my false humility and wrung the truth out of me. He'll cover for me. He knows you'd rather be angry with him than with me." 

Micchi smiles as he looks down at the floor. "As you say, niisan, Sengoku Ryoma-san isn't stupid. If he protects me he stays in your good books in that respect, even if he's angry with you otherwise for defying his wishes. It balances out. And then I'll thank him for covering for me, because I didn't want to fight Kouta-san anyway. Which is true, so it will convince him." 

"I see," Takatora says simply. Micchi hesitates. With everyone else he is always confident in his plans, he always knows best. But ever since niisan showed him that there was more at stake than he ever could have known, well. He's always a little unsure when it comes to his brother. The plan is sound, but will niisan go for it?

"...What do you think?" Micchi asks. 

"I'll do it," Takatora says with a nod. "I want big things for you, Mitsuzane. You're the most important thing. I'll tell Ryoma he can continue to give you orders. I'm sure he'll come up with a convincing reason why, he always does."

"I'll be the mole," Micchi points out. "Sengoku Ryoma-san loves to watch and spy. I'm still on good terms with Kouta-san now. With all of Team Gaim. I can provide information on them and the other Beat Riders; that's what he'll say." 

"Ah," Takatora nods. "Yes, that makes sense. Very good, Mitsuzane. I'm pleased with the outcome here, though I am concerned for Kazuraba Kouta and his continuing use of the Sengoku Driver." 

Micchi bites his lip; this is probably the closest niisan has ever come to expressing his caring side appropriately without smothering someone. He doesn't want to discourage it.

"Kouta-san won't give up the belt because it allows him to protect people. It's why I can't take it from him, niisan. I can't take it from him without explaining everything to him."

"You can't do that, Mitsuzane."

Micchi nods sadly. "I know."

Micchi doesn't need to be dismissed officially to know when the conversation is over. He turns and walks back towards the office door. 

"Oh," he says, suddenly remembering what he had witnessed during the fight, "there's something else I'm not sure you know of: Kouta-san has an extension to his driver, it can hold two lockseeds at once now."

"I knew," Takatora says. "Ryoma reported to me that such a thing had been stolen from his office."

"It's surely convenient for him to call it theft," Mitsuzane shrugs. "The extra lockseed Kouta-san was using was one I know he didn't have before. It's a Lemon Energy one." Takatora's eyes widen visibly. Micchi hides the grim smile he can feel trying to sneak onto his face. "I see that has significance. Good. I'll make my way to Sengoku Ryoma-san's office slowly now to report to him, if you want to call and yell at him for giving me orders that defied your own."

-


End file.
